Peanut butter jelly (brownies) time

Well, as anyone who is up on their packaged foods recipe contest dates knows, the deadline for entries for the 2012 Pillsbury Bake-Off was yesterday. I've been holding off on posting my entries here just in case, because I didn't want them pilfered. Naturally, I trust my regular readers implicitly, but the Internet is a wasteland of recipe thieves just waiting to google search. It's a dark, dark, digital world that we live in.

But anyway, this year I entered two (fairly disparate) recipes. I'll post one now and one in a couple of days, just for the sake of posting more. Today's recipe is one that may sound like something that could only be consumed by 5-year-olds and stoned people, but they are actually quite tasty and I have seen them enjoyed by many a sober adult. Enter: the PB&J Brownie Cup. I originally came up with the idea for the pb&j brownie when I thought that peanut butter swirled brownies were good and as were brownies swirled with raspberry jam. A quick perusal of the Internet informed me that I was not the first one to think of this combination. In order then to make my entry a little punchier, I baked them in muffin tins with raspberry preserves in the center and a peanut butter mixture swirled on top. Now they're portable, self-contained, and offer a tasty surprise in the middle! But enough of my subtle campaigning to Pillsbury, Smuckers Preserves, JIF, and their subsidiaries. On with the recipe!


I may not know much about photography or how to plate something so that it doesn't just look like a turd on a dish, but I do know that things look better when placed next to flowers.

PB&J Brownie Cups 1 box(es) Pillsbury Milk Chocolate Brownie Mix 1/2 cup(s) Crisco Pure Vegetable Oil 1/4 cup(s) water 2 eggs 1/4 cup(s) Smucker's Red Raspberry Preserves 1/2 cup(s) Jif Creamy Peanut Butter 1/4 cup(s) powdered sugar 2 tablespoon(s) butter, melted 1/4 teaspoon(s) vanilla

Number of servings: 12

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil, water, eggs, and brownie mix. Stir 50 times with a wooden spoon to combine. In a smaller mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, powdered sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir until mixture is smooth, with no lumps of powdered sugar remaining. To assemble the brownies, add 1/8 cup of brownie batter to cup of the muffin tin. On top of this add to the center of each cup a teaspoon of raspberry preserves. Divide the remaining brownie batter among the cups to cover the preserves. Top each cup of brownie batter with a tablespoon of the peanut butter mixture. Then, using a butter knife, skim the surface of the brownie batter to swirl the peanut butter. Place the tray in the preheated oven for 25-28 minutes. Brownies will still be gooey (due to the preserves) when finished.

Let me know you think, if you make them. Unless it's to offer criticism that would have been constructive two days ago before I submitted it, but now would offer me nothing but bitter regret. I'm just kidding! Positive and negative feedback is appreciated. I can always use negative comments to help pave my way to domination at Pillsbury Bake-off 2014. Also, stay tuned in the next couple of days for recipe number 2: Spicy Tapas Puffs.